Having not been able to get up into the snowy mountains over the weekend and with a thaw forecast, I was itching to nip out first thing this morning, before everything melted. Heavy rain was due to move in after lunch, but before then, it was looking relatively mellow, if murky. From The Cottage window, Read more

I’ve been away for a few days running a short residential course with some international students. It’s been a weird blend of frantic, chaotic, relaxed and chilled. In preparation for departure and to get a moment of solace to check my lists, I made sure I fitted in a few minutes at my favourite coffee shop before Read more

My diverse mountain lifestyle continued this morning – with a small group of students, I started off the day with some bird watching at the RSPB reserve at South Stack on Anglesey. While I’ve been rock climbing here, on the cliffs of Gogarth many times, I’d actually never been into the RSPB reserve. Acting on Read more

  Just back from a whirlwind 48hour round trip to Fort Martin to celebrate 70 years of the Big Cheese – Pappa Martin! Totally brilliant time, including all three generations of the Martin Clan all sat down together for a Christmas (birthday) dinner, with fine wines, good conversation and lots of laughter. Good times indeed… Read more

  The freezing level was easy to identify as we walked up into Cwm Idwal on Sunday to go scrambling. The streams were iced up to about  600m, but flowing below. Because of this, we opted (after several changes of plan), to do a lower level scramble on the side of Idwal Slabs. I’d not Read more

A crisp winters morning greeted us today in Wales! Full blue skies and a bitterly cold wind made for beautiful yet hostile conditions in the mountains. I was guiding a small team, who wanted to climb as many peaks as possible within the constraints of a short time frame. The Yr Orsedd to Drum ridge Read more